So what are they? Brand extensions are promotional strategies where the marketer piggybacks a new product with an already proven bestseller.



This marketing strategy is quite well known. You promote a new product in your brochure printing by packaging it with another winner in your list. The principle behind it is to have your bestseller rub off its popularity on your new product. It is a safer means of marketing your products and services in your print brochures without having to use up or dedicate your resources on one particular item.

However, recent studies have shown that extensions do work on certain situations. This just proves that not all types of extension ads work. Interestingly, the recent research found a formula for the most positive response to brand extensions.

In the research, there are three experiments made to test the reactions of the consumers on the brand extensions. The first experiment introduced four ads for a digital camera with a ?new? product extension. The two ads have a digital camera plus a digital photo printer as the extension. Both have the same parent company. The other ads have a snowboard and snowboard boots for extensions, and they do not have the same parent company. The other experiments on the other hand, introduced several factors such as having two different parent companies, and other options such as advertising a product extension on its own, and multiple extensions.

One thing rang true in all the experiments. The formula where ads presented the product extensions as completing a set got the most positive results. This means that the digital photo printer as the product extension to the digital camera scored highest because they completed a set of tools for photographers. In the same manner, products from the same parent company also got high scores in the experiments.

This goes to show that brand extensions work best if a related set of products from the same manufacturer are presented as a package in your brochure printing. As opposed to say, presenting a digital photocopier with a pair of snowboard boots as add-ons. Your print brochures would benefit a whole lot more if you include new products and brand extensions that complete a set.

The bottom line is to market in sets. Instead of promoting your brand extension as an incentive for your target clients to buy your product, introduce it as an item that completes a set from a single manufacturer. This way, your products in your brochure printing have more chances of getting a positive response, and eventually prove to be more valuable because they actually have a use for the main product.